Saturday, January 18, 2014

None
Of The Above:
European leaders in the ECB, EU and EMU have called for individual
member countries to go it alone, that there will be no "debt
mutualization" (ie. Germany isn't going to pickup the tab) and
that to pay off their debts member governments must adopt policies of
austerity in government spending, tax cuts, 'flexible' labor rules
and an intentional policy of deflation. History says this plan is
doomed, that countries cannot pay off their debt under such a
regimen, and that falling prices and falling wages lead to falling
governments and economic and social chaos.

What
If:
The politicians and the pundits, economists and scholars have had
over 50 years to try this and that to end poverty, or at least reduce
it and sweep it under the rug. Nothing's really worked all that
well. Wonder if they've asked the poor what they want. Wonder if “a
job” was the most popular answer.

Prescription:
The nations of the world must undertake "explicit efforts"
to stop using fossil fuels "immediately" if there is to be
any hope of avoiding the worst of the predicted and foreseeable
effects of global warming. And what does your son want to be when
he grows up... or your granddaughter?

The
Open Road:
The auto industry makes up about 20% of the nation's GDP and -
reports claim - everything is Happy Days ahead. Well, except for
Detroit, of course. But the glowing reports from the manufacturers
ignore the inconvenient fact that there are 3.45 million vehicles
stuffed into dealer's lots - about a three month backlog. Sure, the
manufacturers claim them as sold, but they aren't. And retail sales
are slowing, not growing. Expect discounts, rebates, other
incentives incentives, cash back flim-flam, etc. to move these units
off the lot, because the factories are turning out more and the
car-carrying freighters are on their way and who cares if the dealers
make a profit anyway?

The
Four Whiches:
The IMF warns that Denmark, Finland, Norway and Poland belong on the
list of places that could destabilize the entire global economy.
Wouldn't have made my list of the top ten threats either.

One
Dip Or Two?
The reason the US has not experienced a double dip recession is
because most of us never experienced a recovery from the first one.
Sure there are some signs of a
renewed bubble in the housing sector, but that's
fading fast and first-time homebuyers are nowhere to be found -
banks rather insist you have a job before you can get a loan and the
drop in unemployment was all done with smoke, mirrors and an
evaporating labor participation rate. Hey, the median home is priced
at $328,000 and the median US income is $51,000 (below 2000 in real
terms) and the bank can do the math even if you can't. Test
Run:
The headlines say that Ohio used “an untested method” to execute
a prisoner. Okay, but where do you get the live test dummies?

The
Four Agreements:
Obama would have you agree that there have been no abuses by the NSA
(well, except for Frau Merkle and a
few million others), that the NSA has averted at least 50
terrorist threats (evidence, we
don't do evidence), that the NSA does not do any domestic
surveillance (except when it does), and Snowden could have ratted out
the NSA without fear of reprisal. That last was the punch line,
brought down the house.

Conflict
Of Interest:
Pension funds should not invest in fossil fuels because if they turn
out to be good investments the world left for the pensioners will
suck, and if they turn out to be bad investments, ditto.

Mother
Hubbard's Cupboard:The
Roman Catholic diocese of Stockton, California (a wholly owned
subsidiary of The Vatican, Inc.) says it hasn't got enough money to
pay any more victims of priestly pedophilia, so there is no point in
making a big to-do about it. So the diocese is seeking bankruptcy
protection from the children they offered no protection to. Okay,
so why not deed the church's property to the victims and let the
church rent the places? O better, why not sue the parent company;
it's got lots of money, it knew
about the abuses, and it was their policies that allowed, if not
encouraged, decades of child abuse. Silver
Lining:
Thank god it was just ordinary corporate indifference to the
environment that poisoned the drinking supply of 350,000 Americans;
if it'd been al-Qaeda we'd already be at war with the wrong country.
The curiously named villain, Freedom Industries, has taken a clue
from the Roman Catholics and filed
for bankruptcy as a way of ducking liability.

4 comments:

There is not any question left about if man has pushed past 400ppm, or if the temperature increase will be disruptive to world agricultural patterns. The question remaining is how much money the Koch's will spend trying to ignore reality.

Our Motto

Keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.